This ending was there the entire time. You just (hopefully) weren't focused on it.
IT'S THE FEAR
inception
The prison walls soon gave way to long passages. Dark in hue and light. From it, he felt apprehension, that he was being watched. And he was. They passed in the shadow like ghosts. Sprites that were barely visible, only enough so to be recognizable. But they did him no harm. He wasn't the guilty one in their eyes. Or original purpose. Wearily, Boruto continued on until he had reached the end.
This end began outside the Hokage Residence.
It was where everything began. Right in the place he hated the most. The Hokage's office.
She was curled into a ball atop the desk, head buried in her knees. Bodies of rogue Anbu members surrounding the desk in piles. Some their necks had been snapped and all seemed to have been beaten black and blue.
Boruto's eyes widened. He knew now without a doubt who had trapped them in this nightmare.
"It's you," he whispered.
Red eyes peeked out from over her arms.
"What?"
Only earlier, he should have seen it!
'Do you think that there's really a curse in my family?'
How serious she had been. How she attempted to push him away even though part of her couldn't do it. The part that saw him as more than a teammate. While her fears roared, that part of her clung desperately...
And to think, he had almost let her go for just one moment, right when he had accepted defeat. But no, he came through and he was going to make sure she did too.
"You. This is all a genjutsu. And you're the caster."
"What are you saying?" She was shaking. "A g-genjutsu? That can't be."
"Look at me Sarada. When did I put my jacket back on? When did you let your hair down again? We never did. I never did, I was so embarrassed when we got caught making out that I just left the office right away and forgot to put it back on. Yet here it is on me somehow...When it should be the desk."
She shook her head, brow furrowing. "Look at you. You're going to die soon, aren't you?" Her voice was on the verge of breaking. "Just like everyone else."
"No, I'm not. Our families are still alive! Everything that happened after the office never did, it's all been from your sharingan."
"But how—"
"When you looked at me, then you looked at my dad, right in the eyes!"
He could still picture her earlier, how she had stared out into the shadows before they had kissed again. How she kept fighting something back.
"Deactivate your sharingan."
"I can't," she whispered, hands burying them.
"I knew it, you can't do it because you're the caster of this genjustu. You have to release us from it first."
"No..."
"It's the only thing that makes sense. All this death...It's only mirrored event from the past. The Uchiha Massacre, Root activities...You've been studying into your clan's past and now your deep rooted fears are manifesting themselves like your very own personal nightmare. All of what's happened...They're your own projections. Your fears."
"No."
"Listen, I screwed up and it scared you to death, and when you thought I was dead your sharingan evolved. And you're afraid of it, you're afraid that history is going to repeat itself, that the people you care about will die because of the so-called Uchiha Curse."
The sight of her fainting after their mission burned through him. It wasn't from him or stress. Her optic nerves had evolved and he could only imagine the pain she had gone through, only doubled by the knowledge that the development had come from watching her friend supposedly die.
And tonight, how she kept rubbing her forehead, her lowered chakra, her constant anguish...It was literally right beside him this entire time.
He pushed his way through the bodies until he was right on the desk. It felt as if it was a wooden boat, and surrounded by a sea of red, but he ignored the threatening waves and held her glasses out to her, but she still would not uncover her eyes.
"Honey, you've gotta trust me. This isn't real, it's just your fears, your fears being projected as a genjutsu."
"How can it be me?!" she screamed. "And even if it was, how could you know that this is just an illusion? You could be delusional from blood loss!" She winced at her own words and cried further, "You look awful, and they hurt you all for the Uchiha power. It warped them just as it did my clan. I told you, didn't I? We're cursed. These eyes...They were better left buried in time."
"You're wrong Sarada, about that and everything else. It's not death that Uchiha powers thrive, it's from the utter need to protect the people you care about. That's where you get your gifts. Not through death, but such a strong love that it becomes more to protect others."
She sniffled helplessly as he tried to coax her with a reassuring tone. He wrapped his arms around her. "And I swear that no matter what, I'll never leave you. Trust me, none of this could possibly be real. Your mom, your dad, my dad, me, none of us would have allowed any of this to happen. This isn't like the past anymore. You know this!"
"But it is," she said.
"You're supposed to be the reasonable one. Smart. You can't do this to yourself." He grabbed hold of her wrists, pulling them down. He slid her glasses into her hand. "You've got to stop. None of this is going to happen. I'm right here. All the way."
She shook her head.
He reached for her fingers, used his to push her pointer and middle out. "You have to let it all go," he whispered, holding tightly to her trembling hand. "Say it."
"What if you're wrong?!"
He stared into her red eyes, fearlessly, nodding. "I'm not. Trust me."
She took a deep breath and raised her fingers.
"Release."
When she opened her eyes, everything had changed. The blood and bodies no longer littered the floor. Even Boruto's condition, he stared up from under her, unscathed, but eyes glazed over. He smiled.
"See?" he croaked.
The jacket was pooled under him, leaving him with just his T-shirt, his arms exposed. He really had never put it back on. When she thought of him, she always pictured him with it on...He was right, they had never left the office at all.
She pushed the bridge of her glasses up, her thoughts whizzing at the events past before crying "I'm so sorry! Oh, what did I even do?!"
"It's...okay." His words faded as he drifted out of consciousness.
From across the desk, the room, Naruto had fallen to his knees, arms wrapped around an imaginary wound to his stomach. The man shook his head, clearing the image away. Noticing him, Sarada bowed her head.
"I'm sorry," she cried. "I drug you and him down with me! I didn't mean to!"
He seemed shocked at first, his eyes widened. Disturbed. But soon they blinked and he smiled grimly.
"So it was you. I started to have my suspicions after you'd left. That Sasuke was something else..."
She began crying again, not even caring she was breaking down in front of her biggest role model. "I don't know how I did it exactly, I-I didn't mean it! I should know better!"
He shook his head, and got to his feet, wobbling at first. Evened out, he approached her, using the desk for support. He took a deep settling breath. "You've never been taught by another sharingan user before. To have linked us together, that's some intense prowess. The fact it was done unconsciously...You just need training and we can turn it around, okay? Its a great ability you have, and a great responsibility as an Uchiha."
"I promise it won't happen again. I—"
"We'll have Sasuke train you. No big deal. I mean...I kind of figured out what was going on after...um, a bit. Maybe learned some truths about myself that I need to reevaluate. So...It's okay."
Naruto placed his hand on his son's forehead. It was hot and dotted with perspiration. He didn't stir.
Feeling responsible, Sarada said timidly, "He was hurt really seriously inside it...Even if it wasn't real, pain is still in the mind."
Nodding, he scooped Boruto up in his arms. Sarada watched him somberly as he cradled him.
Part of her wanted to ask what he did to her father. But those questions were better left alone. They didn't matter.
And they never would.
It was just as Boruto had said. What had followed had only been projections of her worst fears, spurred on by her studies.
But she wasn't afraid anymore.
"Hey," he said softly. "Are you okay? I can take you to the hospital too."
She shook her head. "No, I'm fine."
"Sarada...let me ask of you this. As Sasuke's friend, and my son's father. Never push friends or family alone to try bear a burden yourself. Okay? That's where your father went wrong in the past. But no more. You have something he didn't have, or wouldn't let himself have. All of us would go to the ends of the earth for you, your entire family. History won't repeat if you don't make that same mistake, understand?"
She nodded, the motion resolute. "I know that. Thank you."
"And he loves you, you know that?"
"Yes, my father would never—"
"I was actually talking about my son."
She smiled, eyes glossing. He hadn't left her when he could have ran. Could have saved himself from the infliction she herself had brought on. "I know."
He smiled in return. "Let's go to the hospital now. Your mom's waiting for you."
Outside, the wind howled, rushing past the branches. Leaving, she looked back. Shadows crept, lingering ever the more.
_-FIN-_
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It's OVER! YAAAAAAY! (KINDA...WHAT? KEEP READING)
Author's Note:
I took some liberties, yes, but I wanted Boruto to earn his girl...And I wanted to get away with putting the twist right in the title. Ha ha. That was the best part for me, that and the final confrontations. Review please, and note I feel like a horrible writer but I'm still trying. Constructive criticism helps.
As for the story itself that probably should have stayed a one-shot, it originally came to me in the beginning of October I think for Halloween (sorry I didn't finish it in time XD), inspired by two films I love very much. Inception and Sucker Punch. Both play with the idea of reality, and the latter takes it even deeper if you take a certain interpretation. Like who you think's the main character actually isn't.
Anyway, the original synopsis, the core idea, started out like this:
"Sarada feels overpowered, that there's dark bad blood in her, a shadow from the past that she can't escape, and her fear triggers a Genjutsu without either of her or Boruto fully realizing it. All three are caught and desperately have to fish out original caster to break out."
Also, I decided that I would like to write more about an older Sarada (and her relationship with her distant father (which I have theories about)) who is in line to be the next Hokage, but first inherits the Uchiha Military Police Force, which will be operated in joint with Ibiki and Ino. I think it would be cool if she got to be partnered with the likes of Ibiki, and studied under Naruto while trying to be a normal girl with friends like Chocho and Ino. But I like my dramatic plots so what if...Mmm, what if the description went like this:
"The future's full of opportunities and she's taking every one. First in line to be the next Hokage, Sarada also finds herself inheriting the Uchiha Military Police Force as her right. She's worked hard to get here. But then a man in a hood comes into the picture, dredging up the past with him. She's not her father, though. And she won't make his mistakes, curse or not."
If it's to be written it will be titled Indomitable, or To the Future.
And no I have no clue who the hooded figure is yet. I'm sure I'll find someone to use...
:)
This is HPW, clocking out.
